Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Mt. Princeton
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CO · 38.71417, -106.22502
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →U.S. Forest Service lists this as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Mt. Princeton · Pike and San Isabel National Forests · CO
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 162.A (Mt Princeton Cg), 10 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 162.A (Mt Princeton Cg), 10 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 162.A (Mt Princeton Cg): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Mt. Princeton
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 8,638 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Mt. PrincetonNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Mt. Princeton · Pike and San Isabel National Forests · CO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery6 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- LLaundry10 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- OOutfitter10 mi
- DDump10 mi
- @Mail10 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- ShShower11 mi
- WWater12 mi
- MMechanic17 mi
- RxPharmacy18 mi
- AAir-up18 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 6 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Mt. Princeton
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
8,638 ft
Ground slope
9.5% · noticeable
State
CO
Coordinates
38.71417, -106.22502
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Mt. Princeton · Pike and San Isabel National Forests · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureChalk Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townNathrop · ~8.4 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelCenterville gas station - Sugar Shack · ~7.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~10.2 mi
- GroceriesSt. Elmo General Store · ~6.5 mi
- PharmacySalida Pharmacy & Fountain · ~17.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicHeart of Rockies Regional Medical Center · ~9.8 mi
- HardwareRocky Mountain Lumber & Hardware · ~10.5 mi
EV charging — from Mt. Princeton · Pike and San Isabel National Forests · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.5 mi straight-line NE — SDCEA SOUTH MAIN L3, Buena Vista, CO · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach7 within 25 mi · 20 within 50 · 259 within 100 · 466 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)10.5 mi — Electric Era Charging Station, Buena Vista
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.1 mi — BVPL EV1 BUENA VISTA 1 · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: Mon: 8:30am-4:00pm; Tue: 8:30am-4:00pm; Wed: 8:30am-4:00pm; Thu: 8:30am-4:00pm; Fri: 8:30am-4:00pm; Sat: 8:30am-4:00pm; Sun: 8:30am-4:00pm
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Mt. Princeton Hot Springs Resort - Tesla Destination, Nathrop, 3.6 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 121684 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Mt. Princeton · Pike and San Isabel National Forests · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletMt. Princeton · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletChalk Lake · ~0.5 mi W · USFS
- RestroomChalk Lake · ~0.6 mi W · USFS
- RestroomCascade · ~1.1 mi W · USFS
Coming out here — Mt. Princeton · Pike and San Isabel National Forests · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Chalk Creek as a perennial stream, under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 9.5% — noticeable. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Mt. Princeton elsewhere
Other camps near Mt. Princeton
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Chalk Lake~0.5 mi · fee
- Cascade~1.1 mi · fee
- Bootleg~1.6 mi · fee
- Cottonwood Lake~5.9 mi · fee
The unit that manages Mt. Princeton
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Mt. Princeton are set by Pike and San Isabel National Forests, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Saint Elmo at 10,420 ft, about 8 miles away. It sits about 1,782 ft higher than this camp, so treat it as a guide rather than a reading for this spot. We do not repeat a depth here, because any number we stored would be stale by the time you read it — the station publishes today's.
How we know this — Mt. Princeton
Area rules
Sites must be occupied the first night of payment
Source
U.S. Forest Service recreation data
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-24: $25 per site per night, confirmed by two sources: the Pike-San Isabel NF campground page (updated Feb 3 2026) and recreation.gov, which charges $25 for standard, RV and tent-only non-electric sites alike, May 15 to Sep 19 2026. Two vehicles or one RV per site are included; a third vehicle is $10, and day use without camping is $10. Cash, check or money order at a self-service fee tube; sites must be occupied the first night of payment. Season May to September, opening and closing weather dependent -- and the forest warns that water, trash service and a host may not be available in early and late season. Salida Ranger District, Chalk Creek. Note the agency slug spells it 'mount-princeton'. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/psicc/recreation/mount-princeton-campground and https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/231869.
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Mt. Princeton
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Mt. Princeton
When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Water on public land →Camping with a dog →All field notes →